Regents Canal Regent’s Canal Conservation Area 1. Character Appraisal 2. Management Guidelines London Borough of Tower Hamlets Adopted by Cabinet: 4th November 2009 Regent’s Canal Conservation Area Page 1 of 23 Regents Canal Introduction Conservation Areas are parts of our local environment with special architectural or historic qualities. They are created by the Council, in consultation with the local community, to preserve and enhance the specific character of these areas for everybody. This guide has been prepared for the following purposes: To comply with the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990. Section 69(1) states that a conservation area is “an area of special architectural or historic interest, the character or appearance of which it is desirable to preserve or enhance” To provide a detailed appraisal of the area’s architectural and historic character. To provide an overview of planning policy and propose management guidelines on how this character should be preserved and enhanced in the context of appropriate ongoing change. Regent’s Canal Conservation Area Page 2 of 23 Regents Canal Regent’s Canal Conservation Area Page 3 of 23 Regents Canal Regent’s Canal Conservation Area Page 4 of 23 Regents Canal 1. Character Appraisal Overview The Regent’s Canal Conservation Area was designated in October 2008. The Canal is managed by British Waterways London and cuts across the north western corner of the Borough before running southwards to join the Limehouse Basin. The Conservation Area includes not only the whole length of the canal from the Borough boundary in the North to the Limehouse Basin in the South but also some pockets of historic townscape which are closely associated with and back onto the Canal, including Vyner Street and the Oval. The proposed designation protects the special character of the banks of the Regent’s Canal and specific canal features such as the locks, bridges, wharves, moorings and towpath. The townscape quality of the Canal, its historic features and the associated built fabric, are recognised as being of a special character and are part of the cherished familiar local scene. History The Regent’s Canal was intended to connect Birmingham, the Midlands and the North Junction via the Grand Canal with the River Thames and was suggested as early as 1802. However, it was not until July 1812 that the proposal to build the Canal was approved, and not until 1820 that it was finally completed. John Nash was appointed as a Director of the company formed to oversee the construction of the Canal with James Morgan as the Canals Engineer. It was Nash who secured the patronage of the Prince Regent after whom the Canal was eventually named. The Regent’s Canal opened in two sections, the first between Paddington and Camden in 1816 and the second between Camden and Limehouse in 1820. The construction had proved more difficult than anticipated and completion was four years later than expected and at £772,000, twice the original cost. The main trade on the Regent’s Canal Conservation Area Page 5 of 23 Regents Canal 81/2 mile long canal was coal, which was loaded from colliers in the Regent’s Canal Dock (now Limehouse Basin) into 14-foot wide coal barges. The horse drawn coal barges supplied coal merchants and several gas houses built along its banks. In 1830 Sir George Duckett opened the Hertford Union Canal between the Regent’s Canal below Old Ford Locks and the Hackney cut on the River Lee Navigation. The 11/4 mile long canal was purchased by the Regent’s Canal company in 1854. The western end of Canal and Bow Wharf has been included in the Conservation Area to protect the historic junction of the two canals and the setting of the Grade II Listed Stop Lock Bridge. This iron bridge was built C1830 over the entrance to the Hertford Union Canal to serve as a towing and accommodation bridge. Stone ramps up to the west part of the iron bridge take the Regent’s Canal towpath over the Hertford Union Canal; whilst the wider east part provided vehicular access from Old Ford Road (via a granite stoneway) to land on the south side of the canal which is now part of Bow Wharf. Today the role of the Regent’s Canal and Hertford Union Canal have changed, no longer is it industrial infrastructure vital to the transportation of goods over both short and long distances, instead it offers amenity space and leisure and recreational opportunities, the chance to be quiet away from the hustle and bustle of the modern world. Character The special character of the area is set out below The Regent’s Canal Conservation Area is a linear conservation area with the boundaries drawn tightly around the Canal and features associated with it including bridges, locks, lock cottages, warehouses and industrial features such as the Bethnal Green gasholders. It is the association between all these elements which form part of the canals special character and interest. Historically the Canal had an industrial role and was a commercial venture today it provides a significant resource for leisure, with the opportunity to walk or cycle along Regent’s Canal Conservation Area Page 6 of 23 Regents Canal the towpath or cruise along the canal. The Regent’s Canal retains elements of its industrial heritage which must be protected and successfully combined with its new role as a recreational resource, providing a peaceful haven of tranquil amenity space. The character of the Regent’s Canal is that of a waterway, with the water framed by the towpath and then fringed with greenery. Associated with the canal and towpath and part of its special character are the locks, lock cottages, wharves, lay-bys, bridges, bridge guards, horse ramps and boundary markers.. Within Tower Hamlets the canal passes through five locks Old Ford Lock, Mile End Lock, Johnson’s Lock, Salmon Lane Lock and Commercial Road Lock. Like the other seven locks, they were built with two chambers to allow two-way working. But in most cases, the chamber furthest from the towpath has been converted to a weir. Johnson’s Lock is the only lock in the Regent’s canal to have retained its central paddle gear; and its upper pound contain the Conservation Areas only two surviving horse ramps. When horses worked along the towpath towing barges, they occasionally fell in the canal and the horse ramps were used for leading them back up to the towpath. Associated with some of the locks are the lock cottages these are small scale two storey stock brick buildings with slate roofs in the main. The surviving lock-keeper’s cottages at Salmon Lane and Mile End date from 1864. Each had an attached single-storey boiler house with a steam pump maintaining the water level in the pound above the locks. A new system for keeping parts of the Locks at this end of the canal supplied with water was introduced in 1898. A 3-foot diameter back-pumping pipe was laid from a new pumping station on the River Thames to the pound above Mile End Locks. The massive pipe is still seen crossing the canal by Commercial Road Bridge where it continues under the towpath to the Mile End pound. The two widest of the original brick road bridges survive: the remarkable twin arched Commercial Road Bridge of 1818; and the single arches Mile End Road Bridge of the same date. Most of the narrower road bridges have been rebuilt but the original Stepney footpath Bridge of 1818 survives between Solebay Street and Mile End Park. The original Bonner Hall Bridge of 1819 was rebuilt c1845 as the main entrance to Regent’s Canal Conservation Area Page 7 of 23 Regents Canal Victoria Park. The brick bridge with stone facings and iron balustrades is a scheduled ancient monument. The Ben Jonson Road Bridge was rebuilt in 1907. It is an arched steel plate girder bridge with four stone-capped brick piers and an attractive pier and panel brick wall along the north side of Ben Jonson Road. In addition to the utilitarian functional elements associated with a working canal (locks, lock cottages, wharves, lay-bys and towpath), the character of the canal is also highly dependant upon the character of the buildings and uses which adjoin it. These vary along the length of the Regent’s Canal. Some sections retain more industrial heritage than others, some sections adjoining Mile End Park offer a more spacious open character, and some sections reflecting the changing nature of the canal with its increased amenity value. Examples of each of these different characters can be seen at different points along the canals journey through the Borough. The areas where the industrial heritage of the canal is most obvious are where the canal is bordered by the warehouses on Copperfield Road and at Bow Wharf on the Hertford Union Canal, also in the northern sections of the canal where it shares a border with Hackney: Vyner Street, the Oval and beyond to the gasholders and Wharf Place. Typically the warehouses in Copperfield Road sit on the back edge of the towpath rising straight up from the back of the pathway to between 4-6 storeys. Generally of stock brick the architectural style changes dramatically between the traditional three- bay canal side warehouses of the Ragged School Museum and the later loft apartments, but the bulk and massing remains similar. At Bow Wharf, there is a 1901 three-storey canal side warehouse, converted to a bar and comedy club. Also a former two-storey paint factory of 1912, now mainly occupied by a fitness centre and a new restaurant.